The Mystery of the Flirtatious Cat
by A. Zap
Summary: Alya knows that Chat Noir loves Ladybug; after all, why else would he flirt with her and no one else? However, Marinette's revelation that he had, in fact, flirted with her before throws her for a loop. Alya's not sure why Chat Noir only flirts with Ladybug and Marinette, but she's going to get to the bottom of this mystery. One shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or its characters. If I did, there would be more Ladynoir and platonic bros Marichat. Maybe.  
**

* * *

The Mystery of the Flirtatious Cat

"- And that's why Ladybug and Chat Noir are totally together!" Alya declared triumphantly. It was the only answer that could be drawn given the wealth of evidence.

Unfortunately, Marinette seemed to be having a hard time accepting that as Alya spotted her rolling her eyes.

"They're not together." Marinette flatly said. At the same time, her voice held a note of confidence, as if she was completely sure of her response. However, as Marinette usually didn't pay much attention to the city's resident superheroes, Alya knew she had the advantage.

"Then how do you explain all of the evidence otherwise?" She put forth, not willing to back down.

"Maybe you're just looking a bit too much into it." Even as she said it, Marinette cringed a bit. Of course, Alya just raised an eyebrow in response.

Sure, there were a few times she jumped the gun and barreled into a situation, the incident resulting in her becoming Lady Wifi being the most infamous, but she was a journalist. Analysis, especially given a long period of time and plenty of documentation, was her specialty. Though she was pretty sure that the two's magic interfered with her investigation.

However, she had to admit that Marinette may have a slight point.

"Fine." Alya conceded. "Maybe they're not together." Marinette nodded slightly, and her smirk irked Alya, so she continued with, "But you have to admit that at the very least, Chat Noir is in love with Ladybug."

Marinette groaned. "Not this again." Her head fell into her hands as she fixed Alya with a no-nonsense look.

"What?" Alya protested. "All of what I just said would not just prove that the two are together, but it just shows how much Chat Noir loves her."

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't love her." Marinette rolled her eyes and picked up the sewing she'd been working on when Alya had burst in to gush to her.

"Were you even listening to what I was saying?" Alya's eyes narrowed at her friend, suddenly suspicious. That was the only explanation she had as for why Marinette wouldn't even consider it a possibility.

"Uh…" Marinette quickly looked away, and that was enough proof for Alya. Marinette had obviously heard some of her arguments, but still, Alya thought her tuning her out was a bit rude considering she always listened to her rant about Adrien.

"Okay." Alya said, closing her eyes to gather her strength. "Can you listen this time?"

Marinette sighed, but she turned to face her, still sewing.

"So," Alya began, "Chat Noir protects Ladybug."

"They're partners." Marinette pointed out. "It's not out of place."

"Yeah, but he's, like, super protective. He literally throws himself in front of her to protect her at every opportunity." Marinette squirmed a bit at that, looking uncomfortable, and while Alya took note of it, she continued, "Now, some say he just doesn't have a self-preservation instinct, since he also protects civilians to his detriment, but with her, it's just so _extra_." She barely contained her squeal of glee. "He just always works so hard to protect her, which I totally get, but he also stands up for her when villains start talking smack about her, so he doesn't just protect her physically."

"Okay. I get it." Marinette looked guilty again, and she waved her hand to indicate Alya should move on. "But again, they're partners; that's what they're supposed to do."

"Fine." Alya continued. "He clearly respects her a lot. Not just her powers or whatever, but her as a person. He seems to really listen to her. Chat would probably follow her into Hell if she asked him."

Marinette looked off to the side, contemplatively. She didn't know why that would trouble her friend.

"But despite respecting her, he is also willing to call her out and tell her if he thinks she's wrong." Alya noticed Marinette's surprised blink. "In a way, I think that shows how much he really cares. He is probably a bigger fan of hers than I am; I've never heard him speak a bad word against her. But at the same time, he isn't too blinded to not see her faults and he still loves her."

Marinette fiddled with her sewing a bit. "I… I think that's still just them being partners." She said quietly. "After all, they are actual _partners_. It's not like Chat's her sidekick and has to do everything she says."

Alya nodded, as this was the only thing regarding the super-powered duo that Marinette was passionate about. "But there's also the way he _looks_ at her." She said. "Chat looks at her like she is everything. Honestly, it's like straight out of a movie the way he looks at her."

At this, she looked at Marinette to hear the inevitable comment. She wouldn't look at her.

"Of course," Alya thought about it for a second, before remembering the most obvious clue as to his affection for Ladybug, "then there's all of that cheesy flirting – "

"Ah-hah!" Marinette declared, snapping out of whatever funk she had fallen into at Alya's words. "That's not proof that he loves her!" She shouted pointing at Alya. "In fact, that's proof that he couldn't possibly be in love with her!"

"What?" Alya blinked in surprise. "How is that proof?" She asked, incredulous. After all, flirting was generally a sign of interest.

"Chat flirts with everyone!" Marinette said triumphantly.

Alya's mind stopped. It then restarted and rewound through everything she knew about Chat Noir. Sure, most of her focus tended to be on his lady, but she still saw him enough to know him a bit. "What?" She muttered, even more confused. She couldn't remember him ever flirting with anyone but Ladybug. Heck, he'd certainly never flirted with her.

"See?" Marinette gestured wildly. "He flirts with everyone, so it's not like Ladybug is special."

"He hasn't flirted with me." Alya protested, crossing her arms.

"Eh?" Marinette froze, blinking quickly in shock. Her arms looked somewhat hilarious with the position they were in. "Uh…" She brought her arms down. "Okay, so maybe not everyone…" She muttered.

"Yeah, it's just Ladybug."

"It's not just Ladybug!" Marinette snapped. "He flirted with me!" And then, her face immediately flared up red as she realized her mistake.

Alya felt her mind freeze for a second time in as many minutes. "HE FLIRTED WITH YOU!" She yelled. "When was this?!" Her eyes lit up and she couldn't help but wonder how she had missed such a story.

"Well," Marinette twirled away from her, "it was mostly when the whole Evillustrator thing happened."

"Ooooooo." Alya's grin widened. "C'mon, girl, you've got to give me more than that."

"Nope!" Marinette was going into panic mode. "Nope! Nope!"

Alya couldn't help but tease her more, but before too long, she had to leave to babysit her sisters.

Still, as she left the bakery, her brow furrowed a bit. Marinette had given her something to think about.

So, Chat did flirt with at least one person besides Ladybug: Marinette. Marinette's embarrassment over it made it clear that it was true. So then it begged the question, why did Chat flirt with her despite being totally in love with Ladybug? Because he totally was in love with her despite this revelation and Marinette's protests.

He had never flirted with her, and she couldn't think of anyone else who had caught his eye.

Now, this was a scoop worth considering.

* * *

Unfortunately, the next most logical person to ask about this was the only other civilian who had as much contact with Ladybug and Chat Noir as she did. Though that wasn't really a good thing.

"Hello, Chloe. Can I ask you a question?" Alya tried to school her expression so she didn't look like she was smelling dung. It was hard to pull off in Chloe's presence.

"I'm, like, not offering up interviews, Alya." Chloe said, not even bothering to look up from filing her nails.

"Really? As the person who gets to meet Ladybug and Chat Noir so often, I thought you might be able to tell me something. I guess it was my mistake." Alya nonchalantly said, shrugging to Sabrina at Chloe's side. She tactfully didn't mention that they met so often because Chloe was the leading cause of akumatization.

"What?" That caused Chloe to look up. "You wanted to ask _me_ about them?" She flipped her ponytail back with a smirk. "Then, go ahead."

"I just wanted to know if the rumor was true and Chat Noir was seen flirting with you. I guess a superhero would definitely meet your standards." She fibbed a bit here, but it wasn't like she could outright ask with Chloe. Plus, the blonde would love correcting her.

"That mongrel?" Chloe sneered. "That cat has never flirted with me; he knows his place. And I wouldn't want him to. Obviously, my heart belongs to Adri-poo." With that, she stood and flounced out of the room.

Well, that answered that question.

Alya turned to Sabrina. "Has he ever flirted with you?" She asked.

Sabrina adjusted her glasses. "No." Her eyes narrowed. "There wasn't really a rumor about him flirting with her, was there?"

"No." Alya said truthfully. After all, Sabrina may be Chloe's lackey, but she could at least trust her not to let that slip. It would damage Chloe's precious ego.

"Hmm." She gave Alya a long look. "I better go after her." With no more words, Sabrina scurried after Chloe.

Alya watched her leave, mulling over the information she had gained.

"Well, that's two 'no's.'" She muttered to herself.

On to the next target.

* * *

"Has Chat Noir ever what?" Alix looked up at her incredulously.

"Has Chat Noir ever flirted with you?" Alya repeated.

Alix snorted as she finished fastening her skates. "Nope." She straightened her pads and helmet. "I mean, why would he? He's clearly only into Ladybug."

"That's what I said," Alya admitted, "but I figured it was worth looking into."

Alix shook her head. "Well, did you want to know anything else?" She looked a bit testy and Alya turned to see Kim making mocking faces at the pair.

"No." She said as she immediately stepped out of Alix's way.

"Good. Because Kim's got this coming." And with that, Alix took off after the boy.

Well, he wasn't getting any sympathy from Alya.

She scrolled through her mental list of who she wanted to check with, and she smiled as she thought of the two girls who would probably be the easiest to deal with.

* * *

Juleka and Rose, similarly to Rose, gave her a confused look before shaking their heads.

"No, Chat Noir's never flirted with either of us." Rose's voice said hesitantly.

"I mean, he cracks puns at everyone, but flirting?" Juleka shook her head once more. "That's exclusively for Ladybug."

"Pretty much." Alya said, checking off two more no's on her mental list.

"Well, we've got to go." Rose said, tugging on Juleka's arm.

"Okay. Thanks for answering." Alya waved as they left.

That left one more person to talk to directly.

* * *

"No." Mylene said, surprisingly firm.

Alya blinked. "That was… fast." She couldn't help but comment.

The statement flustered Mylene, which was more like normal. "Well, it's just…" She fiddled with her hair a bit. "He actually commented, the last time I actually talked to him, how cute Ivan and I were." She giggled, a smile and blush crossing her face. "He said he expected an invitation if we ever got married."

"Awww." Alya couldn't help but melt along with Mylene. This was the cute, sweet Chat she tended to hear about, despite his destructive powers in battle. "Anyway, thanks."

"No problem." Mylene responded, and Alya noticed her face light up as Ivan came into sight.

She didn't hide her smile as she walked away. Obviously, someone like Mylene who was clearly taken would never cross Chat's mind.

However, she couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips as she walked away.

Due to the high rate of people in her class getting akumatized (which now that she thought about it, meant everyone but Adrien and Marinette had been akumatized, yeesh), Chat had interacted with them the most. If there was a girl Chat would flirt with besides Marinette or Ladybug, she would probably be in their class. But there had been no one else.

Briefly, Alya contemplated whether she should ask the boys in her class if Chat had been flirting with them. She brushed that aside for the moment and decided to revisit that if she was still having trouble finding information.

She moved on to the next phase.

* * *

"Alya, are you listening?" Nino had that annoyed yet somehow cute expression on his face, Alya just knew it.

Still, she didn't look up from the page she was scrolling through on her phone. After talking to her classmates had turned up no other targets of Chat's flirting, she'd turned to the Internet. Chat had nowhere near the same number of fans that Ladybug had, or, as with Alya, he was second in affection after his partner, but he did have some devoted fans. She'd been hoping that some of them had heard rumors of him flirting with anyone but Ladybug, but there was still nothing.

This was more frustrating than their physics homework.

"Look," Nino sighed and she finally looked up at him, "I know Adrien and Marinette will get here in a few minutes and he'll save all of us from failing, but can we at least try starting it?"

"Fine." Alya sighed and put down her phone. She tried not to be surprised that those two were somehow late again. If she didn't know better, she'd suspect they were secretly dating.

"What's bugging you?" Nino asked as he squinted at the first physics problem.

"Nothing, well…" She fiddled with her pencil until he glanced back up at her. "Have you ever seen or heard anything about Chat Noir flirting with someone besides Ladybug?" Maybe a boy would have a different view.

"Uh, no." Nino looked as confused as everyone else she'd asked. "I mean, it's not like he's in love with anyone else, right?"

"I know, right!" Alya pointed at him. "That's what I thought, but then I learn," she took a quick glance around the library and lowered her voice, leaning closer to Nino, "apparently, he's flirted with Marinette before."

"What?" Nino's eyes widened. He was the first person Alya had told this to, but she knew he could keep it on the down-low. Plus, in a way, it felt good to get it off her chest.

"I know, right?" Alya gushed quietly. Seriously, her best friend had been deemed worthy enough to have Chat Noir flirt with her. Now she just had to figure out why, especially as it was growing clearer and clearer that it was just her.

"I mean, I can sort of see why? Marinette is pretty cool." Nino said, though he quickly backpedaled at Alya's narrowed look. "Not as cool as you though!"

Alya sighed and sat back. She knew that Nino had had feelings for Marinette, and though the two of them had gotten closer, it's not like she and Nino were a couple. Yet. Maybe. Or at least she didn't think so. She decided to set that conversation aside for another day and focus on the task at hand.

"Anyway," she waved Nino's comment away, "I haven't found anything on him flirting with anyone else. So, I can't help but wonder why…"

"Why he would flirt with Marinette when he's clearly in love with Ladybug." Nino quickly put the pieces together. He too sat back and tried to think it over.

"Agh! This has been bugging me for days." Alya groaned, thumping her head on the table.

"Why not just ask him?" Nino suggested, turning back to their homework.

Alya paused for a moment. The thought hadn't actually occurred to her. Maybe she wouldn't ask if he flirted with other people, as that was a bit too direct even for her tastes, but finding out how he felt about Marinette? That she could do.

"Not a bad idea." Alya admitted and at Nino's grin, she flicked his hat up a bit. "I guess you do have a good one every now and then."

"Sorry I'm late!" At that moment, Marinette herself hurried in and she collapsed into a chair next to Alya.

A few seconds later, Adrien walked up as well. "Sorry, an appointment my dad arranged ran late." He apologized, giving them a weak smile.

"Well, it's fine as long as you save me from this physics homework." Nino said with a grimace.

"Sure!" Adrien's smile became more genuine as he leaned over to see what work his friend had already done.

Alya had been planning on teasing Marinette over her usual lateness, but she noticed an alert on her phone that she hadn't seen due to trolling through Chat Noir fan sites earlier. "What?! Ladybug and Chat Noir fought an Akuma and I wasn't there!" She screeched, earning a shush from the librarian.

She didn't notice both Marinette and Adrien immediately pulling up their books and homework to deliberately not look at Alya.

* * *

"Hey, Chat! Mind if I take a moment?" Alya asked in the aftermath of the latest attack.

"Me?" Chat blinked cutely at her, but he swung down obligingly. He hadn't used Cataclysm during today's fight, so she knew he had some time.

Distantly, Alya noticed Ladybug hanging close-by despite her time ticking down more quickly. She snorted within her mind. _Yeah, Ladybug has absolutely no feelings for Chat_.

"Sure, after all, I'm sure you've got lots to say, too." She smiled at him and felt a slight twinge of guilt as he positively lit up. It shouldn't have taken her wanting to ask him about something specific for her to actually corner him for an interview. Marinette was right in that he really was Ladybug's partner and he had a place on the Ladyblog.

Chat glanced back at Ladybug, who smiled at him and waved before swinging off. "Okay, I've got some time, but maybe not here." Alya glanced over her shoulder at the approaching civilians. Yeah, maybe this wasn't the best place to do this.

He withdrew his staff and planted it on the ground. "Care for a ride?" Chat asked, holding out a hand.

Alya studied him for a moment. Sure, he was chivalrous and a gentleman, but even now, there was no signs of flirtation. Still, she took his hand and he pulled her closely to hold her more securely.

"Wah!" She couldn't help the small cry as the staff shot them up towards the roof.

"Top floor, here we are." He joked as they stepped onto it. She chuckled a bit as they got themselves a bit comfortable.

Alya went through the normal interview questions, many of them like the ones she done when she had gotten an opportunity to interview Ladybug. Finally though, she got to the questions she had been waiting for.

"So I've heard you've worked with my friend, Marinette, before. What was that like?" Alya inquired.

"Oh, she was pretty cool. She showed some great intuition and nice thinking on the fly." Chat said, ears perking up, and Alya blinked at the admiration in his voice. She had only heard it when she had asked him about Ladybug earlier.

"Is that so?" She tilted her head a bit in wonder, though she made sure her phone was as steady as ever.

"Yep." He grinned. "Princess is one of the most amazing girls I've ever met besides my Lady."

Alya's mind stopped. "Princess?"

Chat blinked at her. A blush erupted across his face just as his ring beeped. "Oh, would you look at that?" He quickly said, obviously feigning disappointment over the interruption, "Want a ride down?"

Alya laughed. "Sure." She behaved as Chat took her down to street level, but then he turned to leave. "Oh, but Chat," his back stiffened at her words, "don't think I've forgotten about the Princess thing."

He weakly laughed and waved at her as he left, and Alya laughed a bit as she finally stopped the recording. She would cut that last part out before she posted the interview on her blog.

"He is so cute." She said to herself as she walked away.

However, she thought she had finally come to a satisfying end to her quest.

* * *

"Okay, so I think I figured it out." Alya said without preamble as the four of them settled at a table at the café. Adrien had finally managed to get some free time to just hang out, mostly thanks to his bodyguard turning a careful blind eye, so this was the best time to bring this up to them all.

"Figured out what?" Marinette's eyes narrowed, wary of her friend looking so delighted when Ladybug wasn't currently being talked about, but she still raised her cocoa to lips. Even Nino sent her a questioning look.

"Chat Noir's got a type." Alya announced to her friends.

Immediately, the air was filled with the sounds of choking. Apparently, both Marinette and Adrien had had some of their drinks go down the wrong pipe at her words. Alya frowned at them, because while she could understand Marinette's reaction, she didn't get why Adrien would be reacting so strongly.

"What?" He asked in a choked voice.

"Okay, so," Alya realized she would have to start from the beginning, as Adrien was the only one here that she hadn't talked about this to, "we all know that Chat Noir flirts with Ladybug. I mean, it's totally cheesy lines that could easily come from anime, but they're flirtations nonetheless."

"Uh, yeah." Adrien looked a bit nervous over her words, glancing away from her. Meanwhile, Marinette's jaw had dropped and she was looking at Alya in horror. Well, tough for her, some things needed to be said.

"Well, Marinette here claimed that Chat Noir flirts with everyone." Alya jerked her thumb in the direction of her friend.

"He doesn't flirt with everyone." Adrien said, and something about his tone reminded Alya of when Marinette had said that Chat Noir and Ladybug weren't dating. It was totally confident as if he knew something she didn't. After saying this, he shot an almost hurt look at Marinette over what she had said about Chat. "Chat Noir is a gentleman; he wouldn't do that."

Marinette looked like she wanted to melt through the floor. Which would be a pity since it was only recently that she'd become able to be coherent in Adrien's presence.

"Exactly, but he does flirt with one person besides Ladybug: Marinette." Alya grinned, and she took a slight bit of pleasure at the blush that was rising on her best friend's face. She was a bit confused at the blush that was also appearing on Adrien's face as well.

"So it's really just her?" Nino asked, calmly sipping at his drink. He appeared to be surprised too, but his reaction wasn't anywhere near their friends'.

"Believe me; I did a lot of research and it's just Marinette. And after talking to him, it seems like he does like her at least a tiny bit. Get this:" she leaned in and fixed Marinette with a look, "Marinette, why didn't you tell me that he calls you Princess?"

"Princess?" Nino snickered as the blush exploded across Marinette's face. Adrien also seemed to be holding in a reaction with how red his own face was getting, but Alya had a feeling that it wasn't a laugh he was keeping in.

Also, was that a faint chuckling sound coming from his bag? Weird.

"It's not funny." Marinette groaned, and her head came down upon the table and she put her arms over herself.

"It kinda is." Nino said. He finally stopped his snickers and turned back to his drink. "So Chat has a Lady and a Princess."

"Seems so." Alya said, ignoring her other two friends as she continued her explanation. "And so I wondered why it would just be them, and I came to a conclusion: Chat Noir has a type, both of which Ladybug and Marinette here fall into."

"Type? What type?" Marinette cried as she emerged from her arms. "Ladybug and I are nothing alike."

Nino and Alya exchanged a look. "You're more like her than you might think." Alya pointed out.

"Yeah, I mean, you're our class president and a pretty decent leader, just like Ladybug generally takes the lead in their partnership." Nino said.

"Ladybug's really super creative given how she has to figure out how to use whatever Charm she gets. You create things all the time." Alya continued.

"And you're both incredibly kind." Adrien said softly with a small smile on his face, truly contributing for the first time. Marinette's face turned even redder at the compliment, and Alya mentally put another point in Adrien's column as to why he was so great for her friend.

"No! No! No!" Marinette protested. "Ladybug and I are not alike, and Chat does not have a type that we both fall into. This is completely ridiculous!"

"No. I don't think so." Adrien's face had turned serious and he appeared to be thinking about this quite deeply. He had never really seemed like a hard-core Chat fan, as he actually appeared to be competing with Alya and Chloe for the spot of #1 civilian Ladybug fan, so Alya wondered why he was so interested in this. Unless, of course, his interest stemmed from a potential interest in Marinette, in which case this whole thing was helping Operation Adrienette.

"Alya has a really good point." Adrien said as he tapped his chin in contemplation. "I… I think she may be right." The expression on his face was hard to pin down as he seemed to be trying to suppress it, but he almost looked like he'd just received a revelation from God.

"Hmmm. Makes sense to me." Nino shrugged, and Alya could tell that he was ready to move on.

Marinette looked like something in her mind may have broke. She was twitching slightly as she looked at all of them like they'd gone crazy.

"You… you aren't going to put this on your blog, right?" Adrien asked with a concerned look.

Alya shook her head. "As glad as I am to have figured this out and how much I want to, I don't think I will. After all, I should give the fangirls some hope that they might have a tiny chance with Chat Noir. I wouldn't want them to pretend that they're awesome, kickbutt ladies just to try to grab his attention."

Adrien grimaced, and she knew he probably sympathized with Chat's plight given his own experience with fans. "Yeah, that… that wouldn't be good."

"Well, everyone knows he's in love with Ladybug anyway, no matter if Marinette's also his type." Nino pointed out.

"True." Alya nodded. All three of them ignored Marinette's frustrated groan as her head once more met the table, though Adrien did give her a worried look after a few seconds.

As the conversation moved on, Alya couldn't help the smile that lit up her face. She'd solved the puzzle that'd been bothering her, shared it with the people that she really wanted to know about it, and teased her best friend. This was shaping up to be a good day.

And with that problem solved, she could move on to the greater mystery: finding out Chat Noir and Ladybug's identity!

* * *

 **Omake:**

"I have a type." Adrien muttered to himself once more from his position face down on his bed.

"Gee, kid, I could've told you that." Plagg snickered while rolling his eyes. He had more important matters than Adrien having had this information shoved in his face by the nosy reporter girl.

That bought him a few minutes of peace.

Then Adrien bolted straight up.

"Wait! Does this mean I have a crush on Marinette despite being in love with my Lady?!"

"Oh, brother." Plagg growled as he finished his cheese.

That reporter girl was going to pay for making him deal with this lovey-dovey crap.

* * *

 _AN: So this was an idea that just came to me one day that seemed like it'd be fun to write. Basically, it was the scene where Alya goes "Chat has a type" and both Adrien and Marinette choke on their drinks. After thinking about it, I thought, "Hey, I think he actually does have a type" and then after adding in Alya finding out he flirted with Marinette, this was born. Especially when I went over the show again and saw that he really doesn't flirt with anyone else. He just cracks puns. Plus, putting in the hints of who they really are while having Alya remain clueless was a lot of fun and I kept giggling as I wrote this._

 _Just something fun I wrote that's also on my Tumblr if you see it there._

 _Though I will admit that if Chat does not call Marinette "Princess" the next time they interact, I will be very disappointed._


End file.
